Migrant Networks and Climate Change · Job Market Paper

with Shifrah Aron-Dine

Migration is a potentially important form of climate adaptation if people choose to relocate to less exposed places. However, using global data on migration and climate, we find that new emigrants follow existing diasporas and that diasporas are concentrated in places with similar climates to the origin country. To assess the implications of these patterns for future adaptation, we build a dynamic spatial model with endogenous migrant networks and spatially correlated climate risk. Networks exacerbate climate losses when they are concentrated in locations whose expected damages and climate shocks positively covary with the origin's. Quantitatively, networks increase the welfare cost of climate change for two-thirds of the world. In poor, climate-exposed countries, they raise consumption-equivalent welfare losses by 2 percentage points, roughly the cost of an additional degree of warming by 2100. Targeted migration policies improve adaptation by building networks in less exposed destinations, and earlier policies generate larger gains.

Misallocation versus Inequality

with Chang-Tai Hsieh, Peter J Klenow, and Emma Rockall

A stream of research contends that input misallocation takes a toll on aggregate productivity. If this is true, then why does it persist? One answer could be that policies to mitigate misallocation exacerbate inequality. We explore this possibility using data on Indian manufacturing firms and households in a model with both heterogeneous firms and workers. We focus on size-dependent misallocation given the ample evidence for size-dependent policies in India. We find that abandoning such policies would boost aggregate manufacturing productivity by 1–4%, but would also raise the skill premium and overall inequality, since larger firms employ more skilled workers and earn more profits for their owners. We estimate that size-based reforms could lower consumption-equivalent welfare on the order of 9%. This suggests removing misallocation may be unpopular because it worsens consumption inequality.

NBER SI 2026 (video)

Locality, Volatility, and Firm Dynamics in Developing Countries

The Growth Implications of Heterogeneous Firm-to-Firm Knowledge Spillovers

with Reiko Laski

The State of Youth Unemployment

with West Africa Vocational Education Academies

An original survey of young Nigerians in Lagos, examining their experience of unemployment and underemployment.

Stanford University

• Teaching assistant for Econ 1: Principles of Economics (teaching evaluations: Fall 2024, Summer 2025)

Princeton University

• Economics tutor for McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning
• Undergraduate course assistant for International Monetary Economics